The entrepreneur who founded and ran The North Face (from its inception onward) tells his story about how his company was driven by the overwhelming need for innovation and a solid innovation strategy. To succeed in his industry, the author reveals his step-by-step method he used to innovate and eventually surpass the competition while building one of the industry's venerable brands.

Richard Brauman always loved caviar. But for many years the former Federal Reserve employee found that, no matter how much he was willing to pay for quality, the goods often had a stale, fishy taste. He blamed it on the traditional practices of companies in caviar-producing countries like Russia and Iran, where fish eggs are harvested infrequently and may be heavily preserved with salt and borax.

Adaptation to change is a top priority for the founder of a fast-growing company that provides information-management solutions for home-care agencies. Leadership sets the standards for performance. But the bottom line is the bottom line, especially in tighter capital markets. The best way to foster endurance is to build value by satisfying your paying customers.

This topic expert provides a step-by-step process for understanding a sales reps' potential for results, their motivation factors, and developing a comp plan that fits those characteristics. Strategy, combined with communication, can help sales reps meet their goals and their companies' profit goals.

When Art Reisman cofounded a tech company, they had little cash and a good technology idea. Reisman shares two key bootstrapping lessons they learned: use open source technology to develop new software applications and bag indirect selling for do-it-yourself direct selling.

When developing a budget, it is important to estimate profits annually for the next three years as well as to develop a detailed month-by-month budget of sales, expenses, and cash flow amounts for the same three years.

Creativity is all about finding innovative solutions to difficult problems, says an engineer who did just that to build what is now the country's fifth largest craft brewery. The article looks at how that principle applies to manufacturing, management, marketing and product development.

A business plan isn't as useful for raising financing as the prevailing entrepreneurial wisdom holds, argues the founder of an Internet marketing concern. Instead, focus on building the business and the money will follow.

Even on the Internet, says the founder of a company that provides online directories for e-businesses, most new business models are really variants or hybrids of the three basic old ones. To gain competitive advantage in the new economy, what entrepreneurs really need is a low-cost customer-acquisition strategy. And, they face increasing pressure from investors to be right the first time.

A network of U.S. cities facilitating a weekly entrepreneur education program. Go to 1 Million Cups >

Whether you are starting or growing a company, FastTrac will help you live your dream at each stage.Go to FastTrac >

Email Newsletters

Want to be up-to-date with the latest news and updates from Entrepreneurship.org? To subscribe, just give us your email address below; you'll choose which e-newsletters you'd like to receive on the next screen.

Email Newsletter Sign-up Form

Enter your Email Address:Submit

Socialize With Us

Choose your favorite social media channels to keep up with the latest activity on Entrepreneurship.org.